About the NFS Service

The NFS service enables computers of different architectures that run
different operating systems to share file systems across a network. NFS support
has been implemented on many platforms that range from the MS-DOS to the VMS
operating systems.

The NFS environment can be implemented on different operating systems
because NFS defines an abstract model of a file system, rather than an architectural
specification. Each operating system applies the NFS model to its file system
semantics. This model means that file system operations such as reading and
writing function as though the operations are accessing a local file.

The NFS service has the following benefits:

Enables multiple computers to use the same files, so everyone
on the network can access the same data

Reduces storage costs by having computers share applications
instead of needing local disk space for each user application

Provides data consistency and reliability because all users
can read the same set of files

Makes mounting of file systems transparent to users

Makes accessing of remote files transparent to users

Supports heterogeneous environments

Reduces system administration overhead

The NFS service makes the physical location of the file system irrelevant
to the user. You can use the NFS implementation to enable users to see all
the relevant files regardless of location. Instead of placing copies of commonly
used files on every system, the NFS service enables you to place one copy
on one computer's disk. All other systems access the files across the network.
Under NFS operation, remote file systems are almost indistinguishable from
local file systems.